Spicy Korean Rice Cake (원초의 떡볶이 Woncho’s Ddeokbokki)

Ok first of all please let me apologize for not updating my blog with new recipes for the past 3 months, it has been quite an eventful time among other things. I still can’t believe there are people who came up to me and messaged me to update my blog, for someone who’s only doing this for a hobby (I didn’t even expect anyone to read my blog let alone actually use my recipes), you readers really, really mean a lot to me. So to sum up, now I am back and ready to share my easy and fast homemade recipes to you. So get your apron (or pajamas, whatever you choose) ready! 😉

“Friends’ recipe 2: Korean spicy rice cake 떡볶이”
So a few years ago, I went to Korea for the first time and I fell in love with the food straight away. I tried this street food in Hongdae that they sell mostly at night and I can’t get enough of it. So when I came back to Japan, I was so dejected because I missed it and obviously there are no tteokbokki ahjumma (auntie) selling this dish with fish cake soup for the cold winter night in Japan. I went on with my life thinking that I can only get good tteokbokki dish in Korea. That was until one of my Korean friend, Jaewon, came to my house and told me to go upstairs to my friend’s house and eat tteokbokki with them. I was like… “You made what now??”, and that’s how I learned to make homemade tteokbokki. That’s why I named this dish after him, and funny thing is, I think this is probably the only cooking legacy he can pass on since other than tteokbokki, he really cannot cook anything else.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

What you’ll need:

– 10 pieces of long Korean rice cake (떡 Tteok). I prefer the long ones like the ones in the picture instead of the ones in packages, because then you can measure and cut the size of the 떡 according to your liking.
– 800-1200 ml of water
– 2-3 tablespoons of Korean red pepper paste (고추장 Gochujang)
– 3 tablespoons of corn syrup (물엿 Mulyeot) note: you can substitute it with honey as well
– 5 pieces Fish cakes, cut into 2-3 small pieces
– 2 boiled eggs
– 1 tablespoon of chili flakes
– 1 teaspoon of salt
– 1 whole leeks, sliced
– 1 pack of instant ramen noodle (without the seasoning)

First off, boil 800 ml of water in a large pan (make sure that all the ingredients you prepare will fit into it).

Prep the ingredients, cut the long tteok into 3-4 small pieces, the fish cake to 3 small pieces, and cut the leeks.

Still in high heat, boil the tteok and leave for about 1-2 minutes.

Add 2 tablespoon of the red pepper paste and mix them.

Once you’ve mix the sauce evenly, add the fish cakes and boiled eggs into the pan. Now if you feel like the mixture is too watery and you think you need to add more red paste, don’t! At least not in this stage, the water will boil out while the tteok is still cooking and you’ll eventually end up with a thick soup soon enough.

Add a tablespoon of red pepper flakes and 2-3 tablespoon of corn syrup (or honey) and mix them for 1 minute and lower the heat.

Add a teaspoon of salt and mix it again. At this point the soup should not be too watery but not too thick either, if there’s too watery add another half-tablespoon of red paste and if it’s too thick add about 200 ml of water.

add the sliced leeks and mix them for about 30 seconds-a minute before you add the noodle.

Put the heat back to high, add the raw ramen noodle into the pan and 100-200 ml of water and let the noodle cook for about 3 minutes. There’s no need to put the seasoning in so just the noodle. Well, it’s actually a choice, I was told not to but I actually don’t know how it’s going to taste if you do, and I don’t think I/m brave enough to find out. If you decide to put it in, please let me know how it taste. Does the ramen seasoning mix overpower the tteokbokki taste or turns out it enhance more flavor instead?

After 3 minutes, check if the noodle’s cooked and once it’s done then voila! You got yourself a homemade tteokbokki. Don’t forget to share! 😉

My friends and I actually have our own inside joke with Jaewon about tteokbokki. We are really close friends now but the first time he made tteokbokki for me and my friends and taught me how to cook it, we were just okay friends. I always jokingly told him that the only reason I become friends with him is for the sole reason to learn how to make tteokbokki. After that, I actually really don’t need him as my friend anymore, to which he replied that it was waaay too late then because whether I like it or not I’m already stuck with having him around. Lol.

Actually now as I’m writing this, maybe it’s not that funny according to you guys, right? whoops! Sorry, hahaha. I guess it’s a good thing I said it was an inside joke then, right?
Anyway, enjoy your tteokbokki and see you on my next recipe!